


All Gone

by iseetheskyline



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Zombie Apocalypse, at this point it isn't even 5sos, but let's pretend
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-01
Updated: 2017-04-01
Packaged: 2018-04-07 05:33:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4251255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iseetheskyline/pseuds/iseetheskyline
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every fandom needs a zombie apocalypse fic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Behind you, Murph!” Evan shouted, as she turned to see a walker come up behind Murphy, reaching out its decaying arms in an attempt to grab her. At Evan’s call, Murphy span around, landing a blow with her heel on the walkers knee, bringing it to the ground, as she finished it off with a knife to the brain. Getting her breath back, Evan walked over to Murphy, wiping her knife on her jeans as she went, “Damn, that was a good take-down Murph! Did you see the one I killed before? Its brains went everywhere!”

Laughing loudly, Murphy sheathed her knife, slapping Evan on the back as they made their way over to join the rest of the group. “Dude, we totally rocked there!” As they neared the group, Murphy broke into a run, barrelling straight into Luke as he turned around. Reaching up, she pressed a kiss to Luke’s cheek, “You were awesome too, Pingu, don’t worry.” Luke blushed a delicate shade of red as Murphy picked up her rucksack, straightening up and taking Luke’s hand, “Oh, don’t worry Pingu, you’ll be as badass as me and Evan one day.”

Evan picked up her rucksack too, clutching her ribs as she silently laughed at Murphy’s digs at Luke. Adjusting the straps over her shoulders, she took out her pistol and checked the magazine - full. Holstering it back in her belt, she reached her arms above her head, stretching out the aches and pains from the previous fight. 

She heard somebody come up behind her, turning around, she smiled up at Michael, her best friend of 3 years. She’d met Michael through Luke, when he’d gotten with her best friend, Murphy. Before the world had gone to shit, Luke and Michael had been in a band with the other guys in their group, Ashton and Calum, touring all over the world. Luckily for Evan and Murphy, they’d been on a break back home in Australia when the infection hit, meaning they could band together for survival.

Michael slung his arm around Evan’s shoulders, pulling her against his side, “You totally butchered that walker before Evan - it was so awesome!” Smiling up at him, Evan made a noise of agreement. “Just like you.. You’re awesome..” Michael finished quietly, a wistful smile taking over his face. 

Evan’s smile dropped as the took in the expression on Michael’s face, turning to Ashton she called out, “How’s that ankle doing?” Ashton had sprained his ankle after taking a bad landing from a roof after trying to escape a horde of walkers. He’d been carefully monitoring it for the past week, trying not to do anything too strenuous that might lengthen the recovery time.

“Not too bad Evan, at least I can walk on it now without collapsing,” Ashton laughed. He turned away, still laughing to himself, as he and Calum took point, walking ahead of the group with their weapons poised, ready to attack anything that may jump out at them. Luke and Murphy walked behind them, talking quietly to themselves, weapons down by their sides. Michael and Evan brought up the rear, eyes scanning the landscape around them, looking for any signs of movement.

Around them, the sky was darkening quickly, turning from the pale blue of a summer's day to dusk, as they wandered through the streets of Sydney, looking for shelter. A sudden gust of wind had Evan pulling her shirt around her tighter, glancing upward as dark rain clouds rolled in, darkening the city scape even more. “Fuck,” Evan mumbled, as she pulled her rain coat out of her rucksack, shrugging it on just as the first few drops began to fall.

Soon enough, there was a downpour, the rain preventing them from seeing more than a few feet in front of them. “We’ve gotta find some place to spend the night.. Wait till all this blows over,” Calum calls out to the group. Through the rain, Evan could just make out the shape of him and, presumably, Ashton, walking back to back, weapons out and eyes scanning through the rain, looking for threats.

From next to Evan, Michael called out, “We just turned onto Pitt Street, there should be a hotel around here somewhere!” Shielding her eyes from the rain, Evan turned and scanned the street around her, looking for any sign of the hotel. The sound of running footsteps had her spinning around, unsheathing her knife and impaling an infected straight in the brain as it emerged from the rain, running full speed at the group. A loud thud came from her right as someone else took down a runner. “Maybe we should hurry up..” Michael’s panic tinged voice came from behind Evan.

“Over here!” came Ashton’s shout through the downpour, “The hotels right here!” The group congregated around Ashton, who was currently working to open the main doors to the hotel, knife in hand, shoulder pushed up against the doors. Eventually there was a loud click and the doors swung open, Ashton falling through head first. The rest of the group hurried in after, not wanting to be stuck in the rain any longer, not knowing who or what was around them.

Michael hurried in last, closing the door behind him and leaning back against it, breathing heavily. “That was too close..” He panted, pushing his hand through his hair, “Let’s have a moment to get out breath back but we can’t stay here any longer than necessary.” Letting out a deep sigh he straightened up and surveyed their surroundings, scanning the darkness for any threats. “We need to hurry and search this place before it gets any darker.”

Luke glanced over at him, “Mikey, man.. We’re all exhausted. We can search the whole building in the morning, let’s just try and find an empty floor and secure it as best as we can.” He turned away, crouching down and rifling through his bag. After a couple of tense, silent minutes he stood back up, brandishing three torches in hand. Holding one out to both Ashton and Michael, he turned his on, shining the beam around the foyer of the hotel, “We need to find an empty room and get it secured. Fast.” Turning on his heel, he headed towards the stairwell, Calum and Ashton in tow.

Looking around warily, Murphy hurried after him, muttering to herself, “I love it when he gets all bossy.” Laughing to herself, Evan took up the rear, walking behind Michael, knife poised, ready to attack. The stairwell was pitch black, the power completely gone, the concrete steps making a loud noise whenever someone stumbled in the darkness. The group walked up to the third floor, before deciding that they were high enough that anyone, or anything, would not hear them. Swinging the torch beams around the desolate corridor, they looked for a room that had a secure door.

About halfway down the corridor, Calum tried one of the handles, letting out a joyous shout when it twisted in his hand, opening inward to reveal a relatively intact hotel room. The group walked into the room slowly, weapons raised, torches scanning each corner for hidden threats. Once they were satisfied, they let out a collective sigh, closing the door behind them and moving the desk chair to prevent the door being opened. Ashton pulled out a small hand-held lamp from his rucksack, turning the handle several times in order to spark the fuse and cast a gentle glow across the room. Setting in on the desk, one of the few remaining pieces of furniture in the room, he threw himself down on one of the couches that were situated in the corner of the room. “Oh man, this shit’s comfy, i’m sleeping here tonight.” He let out a sigh, leaning over the edge and pulling a blanket out his rucksack, tucking it around his body as he closed his eyes, no doubt settling in for the night.

Letting out a weary groan, Calum settled down on the other couch in the room, mirroring Ashton’s actions. “As much as I love you guys,” He started, “There’s no way i’m sharing a bed with you.” He laughed softly to himself, already being lost to the pull of sleep.

Throwing his bag down on the floor and sitting down on the edge of one of the beds, Luke rested his head in his hands, rubbing at his temples, “I guess that sorts the sleeping arrangements then,” he looked up at Evan and Michael, “Are you guys alright sharing?”

Exchanging a look with each other, Evan smiled down at Luke, “Yeah man, don’t worry about it, that’s fine.” She glanced at the other bed, taking in the threadbare sheet barely covering it. “Say Luke, you don’t happen to have a spare blanket do you? I lost mine in the last attack.”

Looking over at the bed, Luke gave Evan a pitying look, “Sorry Evan, we’ve only got the one.” To emphasise his point, he pulled it out of his bag, spreading it across the bed. He slipped under the blanket, tugging on Murphy’s hand to get her to lie down too. “Fuck, it’s freezing in here.” he muttered, teeth chattering in the silence.

Turning to Michael, she gave a small shrug and a smile, sitting down on the edge of the bed in order to pull her shoes off. She heard Michael rustling around in his rucksack at the end of the bed, looking for the blanket. Pulling her shirt off, she laid it on the floor in order to dry, leaving her in her thin t-shirt, shivering. Leaning back against the few pillows they had, she closed her eyes and allowed the gentle noises to lull her in unconsciousness. She was startled suddenly by the bed dipping beside her, turning her head to the side, she saw Michael perched on the edge of the bed, back to her, pulling his shoes off. Soon enough, he lay down, turning onto his side to face Evan, pulling the thick blanket up so that it covered both of them. Trying to surpass another shiver, Evan tucked her knees up against her stomach, wrapping her arms around them trying to keep the warmth in. She felt Michael shift beside her, “You want my shirt to wear Ev? It might help to keep you warmer.”

Giving him a grateful smile in the semi darkness, Evan nodded her head, “Yes please, Mikey.” Sitting up she bunched the blanket around her as Michael felt around on the floor for where he’d discarded his shirt, giving a small shout of triumph when he finally found it. Wrapping it around Evan’s shoulders, Michael gently pushed her back down, slipping back under the blanket and wrapping an arm around her waist.

“Now try and get some sleep, God knows we’ll need it if we’re searching the whole hotel tomorrow.” He murmured quietly to her, voice already getting heavy with sleep. In the darkness, and with the sudden warmth radiating from Michael, Evan felt her own eyes droop and she finally let herself drift off into unconsciousness.


	2. Chapter 2

Evan was awoken by the bright morning sunlight streaming in through the hotel window. Groaning quietly to herself, she turned over, intending to bury her head in the pillow and go back to sleep for another couple of hours. Instead she came face to face with Michael, still asleep and breathing softly next to her. Letting out a quiet gasp, she sat up on the bed, pushing a hand through her hair and glancing around the rest of the room. She took in the sleeping form of Ashton on the couch, covered in a thick green blanket, snoring softly. Calum wasn’t asleep on the other couch however, and a quick check on the bed next to her revealed that Luke wasn’t in the room either. “They went to find some food,” Murphy’s quiet voice startled Evan as her eyes shot over to the open bathroom door, “Luke thought that one of the rooms on this floor might have something scavengable.” She stepped into the room, careful not to make too much noise that might wake Ashton or Michael. She sat down on the edge of the bed that Luke and her had shared that night, facing Evan and smiling.

“Does that mean we’re all out of food?” Evan asked, concern colouring her tone. She was so certain that they’d had at least another week's rations left.

Nodding her head, Murphy frowned at the floor, “We lost a lot in that last attack..” Evan didn’t need to hear the words to know that she wasn’t just talking about all the supplies they lost. Their group had been larger, with two of Evan and Murphy’s bandmates, Hayden and Alex, tagging along. A shocking turn of events had resulted in their camp being overrun by infected, Hayden being lost in the initial attack. Alex had survived the attack, only to become gradually sicker and sicker until Murphy had realised what had happened. Neither of them had made it to the city, to the promised “safe haven” that had been broadcast on the emergency frequency channel of their radio. Now it was just the six of them, still going strong, still searching for a place free from the infected.

A succession of three quick knocks rang through the room. Murphy darted upward quickly, reaching for her knife as she made her way over to the door, looking through the peephole, and letting out a sigh of relief at whoever was on the other side. Moving the chair from under the handle, she opened the door to reveal Luke and Calum, each carrying a knife and several packets of something. Closing the door behind them, Murphy reinstated the chair under the handle, before returning to her seat on the bed. Nudging Ashton in the shoulder, Calum handed him a packet of what looked like dried fruit once he’d woken up, going to sit on his couch as he opened his own packet. Luke had returned to his seat next to Murphy, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and talking to her in hushed whispers, as she opened a packet and placed it between her knees, taking a handful of fruit every few minutes. 

Gratefully accepting the food that Luke handed to her, Evan turned around and lay back down on the bed, nudging Michael with her foot until he eventually blinked his eyes open, staring groggily at her. “Luke and Calum found some food, do you want any of it?” she murmured quietly to him, “It’s only dried fruit but it’s better than nothing..” she trailed off. 

Michael gave her a grateful smile, accepting the food and taking a handful, laying the packet between them on the bed. After a while, Evan felt her eyes start to shut again. Blinking hard, she tried to wake herself up, gently shaking her head to try and clear the sleepy haze. “You might as well get some more sleep,” Michael started, “We won’t start securing the building for another few hours yet.”

Smiling at him, Evan shuffled so that she was lying more in the centre of the bed, tucking her arm under her head, she let her eyes close and the drag of sleep pull her under. The last thing she felt before she fell into unconsciousness was the gentle scratch of the blanket as Michael pulled it up over her shoulders.

An hour or so later, Evan awoke to a gentle shaking of her shoulder. Blinking open her eyes, she looked up to see Michael standing next to the bed, rucksack already on his back, mask wrapped around the lower half of his face. “Rise and shine kiddo, up and at ‘em,” he laughed, straightening up and stretching his arms.

Groaning, Evan swung her feet over the edge of the bed, before leaning over to grab her shoes, pulling them on before standing up. “Mikey, I’m a year younger than you,” she giggled, “You can’t call me kiddo anymore.” Picking up her rucksack, she swung it onto her back, pulling out her knife and turning to face Michael, “So how are we doing this thing then?” 

Ruffling Evan’s hair, Michael laughed, “Course I can...Kiddo.” he adjusted the straps of his rucksack, a serious look taking over his face, “Luke wants us to split into two groups, we’ll take half the hotel each, and meet back here after the all clear.” He turned to Luke, as if wanting confirmation.

Luke nodded, “If any of us run into shit, we meet back here as soon as it’s safe. We alert each other on the walkie talkies.” He chewed on his lip thoughtfully for a moment, contemplating his next words, “And don’t go outside. We can’t risk compromising our position here.”

Both Evan and Michael nodded their understanding. “How are we splitting up Luke?” Evan asked, bouncing on the balls of her feet, eager to start the search.

“Me, Murph and Cal will take the upper half of the hotel, from this floor to the top. We’ll try and secure the upper floors before we meet back here.” He glanced across the room at Ashton before looking back at Evan and Michael, “You three will secure the lower half, make sure to barricade any entrances in from the ground floor; the last thing we need is more infected getting in here when we’re asleep.”

Evan grimaced, remembering the last time they forgot to secure their camp, “Understood” she replied, as she let out a shudder. Seeing her reaction, Michael wrapped an arm protectively around her shoulders, squeezing it in reassurance.

Oblivious to Evan’s reaction, Luke clapped his hands together, “Alright, let’s get going!” He unclipped his machete from his belt, before walking over to the door, opening it and checking both ways down the corridor for threats. “All clear,” he called over his shoulder. Murphy followed him out into the corridor, knife held at the ready, Calum following soon after.

Standing up from his spot on the couch, Ashton looked over at Evan and Michael, “Guess that means we should get moving then, right?” He headed over to the door, checking the corridor before walking out.

Looking down at Evan, Michael unwrapped his arm from around her shoulders, blushing gently, “We should probably get going too, you know how Ash gets when he’s kept waiting.” Michael headed out of the door, going to stand next to Ashton who was stood next to the stairwell door. Evan pulled the hotel door shut behind them, resting the chair from inside under the handle, effectively blocking off access until they returned. 

Walking over to Michael and Ashton, she slapped them both on the shoulders, “C’mon then guys, lets go kick some infected ass,” before pulling open the door to the stairwell, knife out and ready.

The trio managed to make it down to the ground floor without any difficulty. Standing outside the door that led to the foyer, they listened for any signs of movement. “Seems to be clear..” Evan murmured, pressing her ear against the door. 

“Let’s get going then,” Ashton said, caution evident in his tone. He pushed the door open, knife held out in front of him. Evan followed a couple of paces behind him, with Michael bring up the rear, scanning the corners of the foyer.

Making their way over to the main entrance, they looked out through the glass doors, checking for movement in the bright sunlight. Outside, the street was quiet, clear of anything, infected or living. “I’ll keep watch,” Evan glanced at Michael and Ashton, “You two try and find something that we can block these doors off with.”  
Scanning the street outside, Evan impatiently tapped her knife against her leg, waiting for Michael and Ashton.

“Evan we’re gonna need your help with this,” Michael called from the other side of the foyer, where he and Ashton were busy trying to shift a large shelving unit. Letting out a sigh, Evan sheathed her knife and headed over to help push the unit against the main entrance, blocking anything from gaining access into the hotel.

Stepping back, Evan brushed her hands off on her jeans, admiring their hard work, “Nice one guys, just three more floors to go now.”

Michael and Ashton let out a groan as the trio made their way towards the back of the hotel where the kitchen was located, hoping to find some food. “We’re in a huge ass hotel in the middle of Sydney.. Surely there’s got to be at least some food left over that hasn’t been spoiled.” Michael grumbled, as he searched through yet another cupboard. 

“These places must have been some of the first to be raided.” Ashton replied, “I’m surprised Luke and Cal found any food at all this morning.”

After an hour or so, they eventually called off the search for food and proceeded up onto the second floor, hoping that some of the hotel rooms might have some leftovers stashed away somewhere.

They were halfway through searching one of the rooms when Michael called out, from his position by the window, “Hey, guys, there’s a supermarket a few streets over,” he turned to face Ashton and Evan, “Worth a shot right?” He walked over to his rucksack, digging through it and pulling out the walkie talkie, “Luke? You there?”

[Luke] Yeah I’m here, what’s up Mikey?

Heading back over to the window, Michael squinted in the bright sunlight as he tried to identify the rough location of the supermarket, “There’s a supermarket over on, I think, Phillip street, worth a look at?”

[Luke] Good find Mikey, we’ll meet you guys down in the foyer in 5, over and out.

Returning the walkie talkie to his rucksack, he slung it back over his shoulders, picking up his knife and holding it loosely in his hand. Opening the door to the corridor, he checked both directions before turning to give the all clear to Ashton and Evan. Before he could speak, he was thrown backwards into the room, an infected on top, screeching and snapping at his neck. Evan let out a scream, frozen in shock, unable to do anything other than stare from her position on the other side of the room. 

In moments, Ashton was by Michael’s side, pulling the infected off by the back of its shirt. Pinning it against the floor with his boot, he drove his blade through its skull, ending its life swiftly and cleanly. Hurrying over on shaking legs, Evan held out a hand for Michael to pull himself up with, checking him for injuries as soon as he was upright. 

“Evan, chill, I’m alright,” he let out a shaky laugh, “It just startled me that’s all.” Regardless of his protests, Evan continued to check him for injury before giving him the all clear and pulling him into a tight hug.

“Don’t do that again you stupid asshole,” she mumbled into his shoulder. Pulling away, she turned to Ashton, “Where the hell do you think that came from?” 

Grimacing, Ashton looked down at the infected, “Probably from one of the rooms we haven’t checked yet.” He glanced at the open door, “We better hurry and check the rest of the rooms before we meet the others, we can’t risk any finding their way onto our floor.”

The trio quickly checked over the rest of the rooms on the floor, making sure that there was no chance of any infected compromising their position. In the room next to the elevator shaft, there were two walkers, hidden in the dark corner of the room. They were quickly dispatched by Evan and Ashton, with Michael covering their backs.

Once they were confident that the floor was clear of any infected, they headed back to the stairwell, hurrying down to the foyer to meet up with the rest of the group. Pushing open the door to the foyer, they came face to face with Calum, standing a couple of metres away from the door, knife held in an attack position. “Woah, man,” Ashton started, taking a step back, “It’s just us.”

Letting out a breathy laugh, Calum lowered the knife, “What took you so long? We’ve been waiting for 15 minutes.”

Giving Michael a sidelong glance, Evan stepped forward, “We, uh, ran into a bit of trouble upstairs,” she gave Calum a small smile, “Don’t worry, we handled it.” She shuffled past Calum, tugging Michael with her by his sleeve, “Let’s just get going to the supermarket, we can’t wait too long,” she glanced behind her at Calum, “We don’t know if there’s any hordes nearby that could block us off, we can’t risk it.”

As they headed over to where Luke and Murphy were talking next to the blocked off main entrance, Evan heard Calum questioning Ashton in hushed, hurried tones, no doubt asking what had happened. 

Murphy looked up as they approached, “Oh, thank god you’re all okay, we were worried sick.” she patted Evan on the shoulder, “Ready to kick some infected ass Evan?”  
Grinning back at Murphy, Evan laughed, “Of course I am Murph, ready whenever you are.” 

Taking her knife out, Murphy turned around to face Luke, “We need to get these doors open, soon.” Moving to the edge of the shelving unit, she leant her shoulder against it, beckoning for Luke and Ashton to come help her. Luke came up next to her, leaning his back against it, bracing his feet against the floor. Ashton stood to the side, resting his hands against the shelves, leaning forward against them. With their combined strength, they soon moved the unit out of the way of the main entrance. Unsheathing her knife, Evan opened up the doors, stepping out into the early afternoon, eyes scanning the street around her. 

Footsteps behind her had her turning and smiling briefly at Michael, standing in the doorway, knife held in his hand, mask now tied around his neck. “You ready Mikey?” she asked, eyes shifting back to the street. 

“If you’re ready,I’m ready, you know that Evan.” Michael smiled, as he nudged her with his elbow.

“Alright, let’s get going,” Evan called as she started making her way down the street, keeping an eye on the shadows of the buildings, willing for nothing to jump out and attack them. The group managed to make it to the intersection of Pitt Street and Bridge Street, turning left and heading down the road, making their way around abandoned vehicles and decaying corpses. 

They made it to the turn off for Phillip Street without any problem, no infected and no living in their nearby vicinity. They could see the supermarket in sight, a hundred yards down the street, the faded blue sign hanging by some wires over the entrance. Continuing to check their surroundings, they split into three groups, Evan and Michael taking point, Calum and Ashton walking back to back in the middle, and Luke and Murphy bringing up the rear, eyes casting around the street cautiously.

Standing outside the supermarket, the group stared into the gloom, looking for any signs of movement within. “This is strange,” Calum murmured, “We’re in the heart of the city, where are all the infected?”

“Are you complaining about that Cal?” Ashton said, “We should just get in there and get out before any infected wander back over to this area.” Still, none of them made a move to enter the store, preferring to stare at the desolate shelves and overturned trolleys.

Throwing her arms out to the side, Evan let out a sigh, “Oh for fuck’s sake, we aren’t going to get anything done standing out here.” She strode over to the open doorway, “If there was anything in here it would have shown itself by now.”

“She’s right, we need to hurry up, we can’t risk being out in the open for too long, we don’t know what’s nearby,” Michael said, smiling at Evan. 

Turning on her heel, Evan strode into the store, being careful not to trip over any of the items on the floor. Behind her she heard a rustling and a click as someone pulled out a flashlight and turned it on, shining the beam down the central aisle.

As the light shone over the shelves, Murphy let out a gasp, “Holy shit,” she breathed, “This place is loaded.” Sheathing her knife, she hurried past the tills and grabbed a trolley, pushing it into the aisle, glancing in awe at the products on the shelves. She began to walk down the aisle, pulling food from the shelves and putting it into the trolley, piling it high with unopened jars and packages. 

Halfway down the aisle, Murphy stopped and pulled something off of a shelf. A shout of “Eureka!” went up as she held up a bottle of something, spinning to show the rest of the group. “I haven’t had a bottle of Anthelion in years, I’m going to enjoy this.” 

“Are you sure that’s a good idea Murph?” Evan called back, “We’ve got to stay sharp, we don’t know what could happen later.” 

Pulling the cork out with her teeth, Murphy held the bottle up in a mock toast before taking a long drink, “Don’t worry so much Evan, i’ll be fine.” She hiccuped as she took another drink, balancing the bottle in the children’s seat of the trolley, taking sips from it every so often as she continued down the aisle.

Ashton followed soon after, getting his own trolley and beginning to slowly fill it with food, calling back to the rest of the group, “Guys, a lot of this stuff is completely untouched, we have enough food here for weeks!”

Exchanging a look, Michael and Calum headed into the store, following Murphy and Ashton down the aisle, whilst Luke and Evan trailed behind, scanning the shelves for anything that had been missed.

The group met at the end of the aisle, to see what would be of use to them. Sifting through the two full trolley’s, they sorted out what food would last the longest, and be the most practical. Luke and Calum were arguing over two packets of something, “At least with the dried food we know we can always eat it...” Luke was saying.

“There’s a lot more of food that needs to be cooked though Luke,” Calum replied in a raised voice, “We have our cooking equipment, it’s not too difficult to find a water source.”  
Clenching his fists by his side, Luke gritted his teeth, “We don’t always have a chance to spend time cooking, we can’t take the risk of not having any food to eat.”

Evan didn’t hear Calum’s reply, shooting Murphy a look of desperation, she let out a sigh as she wandered off into the next aisle, looking for more useful stuff. Casting her eyes over the shelves, she pulled a bottle of beer off a shelf, uncapping it and taking a sniff. Pulling a face, she put it back on the shelf, continuing down the aisle. Footsteps behind her had her turning around, coming face to face with Michael. 

“You don’t like alcohol, Ev?” Michael asked, picking the bottle up and examining the label, taking a swig when he seemed satisfied with what it was.

Pulling a disgusted face, Evan continued down the aisle with Michael in tow, “It’s not that I don’t like alcohol, I just don’t like beer.” She glanced pointedly at the bottle in Michael’s hand, “I can see you do though,” she laughed. 

Shrugging, Michael took another drink, “I’m not a huge fan myself,” he turned the bottle in his hands, “But it’s here, I need to relax a bit.”

Frowning at the floor, Evan stopped and turned to Michael, “You don’t get it, we can’t relax.” She looked up at him, “We relax, we get killed, you saw what happened last time we let our guard down, we lost two of our friends.”

A remorseful look passed over Michael's face, “I know that Ev, I just want to forget for a while.” He closed his eyes, eyebrows furrowed, “Too much has happened these past few months.”

Evan stepped forward and rested a hand on his shoulder, “I know Mikey, but you can’t keep blaming yourself when things go wrong.” She turned back around and continued down the aisle, “Just don’t drink too much, okay?” 

“I’ll try not too,” he murmured as he followed behind her, taking a drink from the bottle every few minutes. 

Arriving at the end of the aisle, Evan turned into the next one, still searching for more supplies, “Can you check the next one Mikey? It’ll make the job so much faster.”  
Michael, who had been about to follow Evan into the aisle, stepped back heading into the next aisle instead, “Sure Ev, I’ll meet you at the end.”

Crouching down, Evan scanned the bottom shelf, pulling a jar of pickles off the shelf, grimacing as she put it in her rucksack. Straightening up, she continued walking, crouching every so often to search the lower shelves. At the end of the aisle, she met up with Michael again, comparing their finds. Between them, they’d found eight packets of dried food and three jars of pickles, not enough for the whole group, but enough that a few of them wouldn’t go hungry for a few days.

“We better get back to the group, maybe they’ve stopped arguing by now.” Evan said, zipping her rucksack up and slinging it onto her shoulder, turning to head back to the group. A hand on her wrist had her stopping in her tracks, turning back to Michael. 

“Hang on a second Ev, I found something I wanted to show you.” He rifled around in his rucksack for a moment, being pulling out a packet of something, holding it in his hand and standing up. “I remember how much you used to like this when we first met,” he said as he held out his hand, uncurling his fingers to reveal a packet of watermelon flavoured gum, “You always had a piece in your mouth whenever we were together.” He smiled at Evan as she took the gum, unwrapping it and putting a piece in her mouth, chewing thoughtfully.

“Just as good as I remember it being,” she blew a bubble, laughing to herself at the quiet pop, “Thanks Mikey, I can’t believe you remembered, I haven’t had this in ages.”  
Smiling at Evan, Michael lifted his rucksack back onto his shoulders, “Let’s get back to the others, I’m sure they’re wondering where we got to.” Together, they headed back to where the group were stood, stuffing packet after packet of food into their rucksacks. 

Looking up at they approached, Luke smiled at them, “You find anything useful?” He let out a laugh, “According to Murph here the most important thing we found were the bottles of vodka.”

Giggling along, Evan raised her eyebrow at Murphy, “Of course she would say that.” Looking back at Luke, she looked at the food he was packing into his bag, “We found a bit of dried food, couple of jars of pickles, nothing too exciting,” Evan trailed off as she crouched down, and began to help packing food into the rucksacks, Michael joining in soon after. With the extra help, it didn’t take long for them to pack all the food into their rucksacks and complete a final sweep of the supermarket looking for any missed supplies.  
Casting a look out of the main entrance, Ashton suppressed a shiver, “Looks like another storm is rolling in, it’s getting dark pretty quickly,” he pulled his jacket tighter around himself, “We should get back to the hotel and have one last sweep before it gets too dark to see.”

Nodding their approval, everyone pulled their jackets tighter around themselves, and pulled their weapons out, readying themselves for heading back into the city. As a group, they scanned the desolate street before walking outside, sticking to the shadows of the buildings..

Around them, the sky was darkening rapidly, changing from the bright light of the afternoon to a dark grey as the clouds rolled in. They hurried down Bridge Street, making a wide berth around any vehicles or corpses, not wanting to risk making any extra noise than they needed too. Coming to the intersection of Bridge Street and Pitt Street, they halted, staring down Pitt Street, trying to see into the darkened alcoves scattered along the street. 

Satisfied that the street was relatively clear, the group continued on towards the hotel just as the first few drops of rain began to fall, leaving wet streaks on all their clothes. Looking up at the sky, Evan noticed how close the dark clouds were getting, “We’d better hurry up guys, the storm is gonna be on us soon.”

The group jogged the last few hundred yards, coming to a stop outside the hotel entrance. Opening the door, Ashton slipped inside, moving the shelving unit so that the door could be opened wider to let the rest of the group in. Once they were all inside, Ashton and Luke pushed the unit firmly against the door, preventing anything from entering.

“All right,” Luke started, “Let’s get upstairs and double check our floor before we settle down for the night.” He headed off toward the stairwell, Murphy in tow with the others trailing behind.

The stairwell was still dark, the only light coming in from the small windows every other floor. Turning their torches on, they hurried up to the third floor, closing and blocking the door once they were all through.

Stopping outside the door to their room, Luke turned to face the rest of them, “There aren’t many accessible rooms on this floor, we don’t all need to go.” He looked at Murphy, “We can go check it out and you four can stay here and set up for the night, is that cool?”

“Yeah Luke, that’s fine,” Michael said, pushing open the door to their room and stepping inside, disappearing into the darkness. Following him inside, Ashton and Calum set about turning on the lamps, casting a warm glow across the room.

Giving Murphy a pointed look, Evan began to walk into the room, calling behind her, “Don’t take too long you two, or Mikey might drink all the alcohol.”

As Luke shut the door, Evan heard Murphy whine something about hurrying up and not wanting to miss out on the alcohol. Laughing softly to herself, Evan headed over to the bed and sat down, resting her head in her hands and rubbing at her temples.

“You okay Ev?” came Michael’s voice from next to her. She felt the bed dip and looked up as Michael sat down next to her, pulling his legs up and resting his arms on them.  
Pushing her hair back, she let out a sigh, “I’m fine Mikey, it’s just been a stressful day. What about you, how are you holding up?”

Giving Evan a half smile, Michael lay back on the bed, resting his arms behind his head, “I’m alright, still a bit shaken from that infected earlier on,” he let out a shaky laugh, closing his eyes.

Looking away, Evan frowned at the floor, “I almost lost you,” she murmured quietly. Shifting onto the bed properly, she lay back next to Michael, “Try not to do that again, eh?”  
Turning to face Evan, Michael let out a quiet laugh, “You aren’t going to get rid of me that easily you know.” He leaned over the side of the bed and dug around in his rucksack for a moment, before pulling out another bottle of beer, uncapping it and taking a drink. Leaving the cap off, he offered it to Evan with a smile, “Cmon Ev, we’re gonna be in here all night so you may as well relax a bit.”

Shaking her head, Evan rubbed her eyes again, “I think i’ll leave the drinking to you and Murphy, somebody’s got to keep your stupid asses from doing anything.”

Shrugging, Michael sat up and pulled another two bottles of beer out, throwing them to Ashton and Calum, laughing loudly when Calum missed his and it rolled off the couch onto the carpeted floor.

The sounds of the door handle twisting had them all looking up, relaxing slightly when Luke and Murphy walked in, hand in hand. “See Luke, I told you they would have started drinking without us,” Murphy was saying, as she hurried over to one of the rucksacks, pulling out another bottle of wine and sitting down on the floor in between the two couches. “Since we’ve got nothing better to do than drink and discuss our next moves,” she paused for a moment, thinking, “I propose a game of Spin the Bottle.” 

Shrugging, Evan sat up and tugged on Michael’s sleeve, pulling him to sit next to her on the floor. “Alright Murph, just don’t get mad again when someone has to kiss your boyfriend again,” Evan laughed, wrapping her arms around her knees.

Letting out a loud sigh, Luke sat down on the floor next to Murphy, pulling a rucksack over by its handles and pulling out a couple of bottles of beer, “If we’re playing Spin the Bottle, I’m going to need a drink, or three.”

Sliding onto the floor on the other side of Luke, Ashton let out a loud laugh, holding his bottle in the air in a mock toast, “Here’s to getting drunk!” he called out, chinking his bottle against Calum’s across the makeshift circle.

“Hey Mikey,” Murphy started, looking up from searching her rucksack, “Do you have an empty bottle on hand?” 

“Yeah, I think so, hang on,” he stood up and began rifling through his rucksack next to the bed, searching for the empty beer bottle that he had in the supermarket. Letting out a joyous shout, he turned and sat back down, leaning over to place the bottle in the middle of the floor. “So, who’s spinning first?”

“I’ll spin first,” Murphy began, a slight slur to her words, “But first, Evan you need a drink, you can’t play this sober!”

Voicing her protests, Evan tried to decline the bottle of beer that Murphy held out to her, trying to use “someone has to keep watch” as an excuse to stay sober. But Murphy wasn’t taking no for an answer, sticking her bottom lip out and pouting until Evan finally accepted the bottle, taking a long drink before leaning her head back against the bed, closing her eyes.

Leaning forward, Murphy reached out and span the glass bottle, watching it rotate, once, twice, three times before coming to a stop pointing just to her right, on Luke. 

"Well, they say the bottle never lies" Murphy murmured, already leaning towards Luke, hooking her arm around his shoulders and pressing a kiss to his lips,smiling into it.  
They broke apart when Ashton let out an awkward cough, turning his his face away.

"What is it Ashton? You jealous?" Murphy laughed, leaning around Luke in order to look at Ashton, smirking.

Laughing loudly, Ashton took a drink, "Something like that..." He trailed off. 

Leaning towards the circle again, Murphy looked at Calum, "Your spin Cal, good luck," She took another drink, hiccuping slightly as she rested her bottle against her leg.

Calum took hold of the bottle and span it, leaning back as he watched its progress, letting out a loud groan as it finally came to a rest pointing at Ashton. “Are you fucking serious?” he muttered, as Murphy fell about on the floor, clutching her stomach and laughing.

“You have to kiss...” Murphy managed to pant out in between giggles, “It’s in the rules!” 

Mock glaring at Murphy, Calum looked over at Luke, “C’mon man, back me up here.” When Luke didn’t reply, he glanced over at Michael, “What about you? Do you really want to kiss one of us?” 

Shrugging, Michael looked over at Murphy, who had finally managed to compose herself, “Hey Murph, does it have to be on the lips?” He glanced at Calum, who was sitting glaring at the floor, “I would hate for Calum to throw another hissy fit.” This earned him an angry grumble from Calum, throwing a bottle cap at Michael.

Letting out a small giggle, Murphy looked at Calum who had returned to glaring at the floor, “Ugh, alright, fine. You’re just ruining the game though.”

Looking up from the floor, Calum looked at Ashton, “Guess we better get this over with then..” grimacing, he leaned over and pressed a quick kiss to Ashton’s cheek. Pulling away almost as soon as it began, he sat back, avoiding making eye contact with anyone.

“Was that so bad now?” Murphy asked, raising an eyebrow at Calum as she stifled her giggles. She received only a glare in return, only making her laugh even louder, clutching her stomach. 

Evan joined in laughing, leaning over and resting her head on her knees, trying to control herself. She could feel the alcohol affecting her, making the edges of her vision blur and her head spin. She pushed down the sudden feeling of dizziness, sitting up again and leaning her head back against the bed, closing her eyes. 

“Hey Evan? Are you alright?” Michael’s voice came from beside her, slow and slightly slurred from the alcohol. 

Blinking hard, Evan looked at Michael through half-lidded eyes, “I’m alright Mikey, I think I’ve drank this too quickly though,” she gestured to her nearly empty beer bottle, “ Hiccuping, Evan drained the last of her drink, “Let’s just finish this game before I fall asleep on the floor.”

 

…

 

Four more bottles of beer, and several rounds of Spin The Bottle later, everyone, including Evan, were well and truly drunk. Evan couldn’t remember a time where she’d felt this relaxed and carefree considering the situation that they were all in. The bottle had been passed around the group three times so far, each time getting more and more hilarious as each player became more drunk. By this point, Evan had kissed Calum three times, and Ashton and Luke once each, laughing loudly after each turn before taking another drink of beer. Both Michael and Murphy seemed to be the most drunk; Murphy was leaning against Luke, laughing along with the game as she continued to drink her wine. Michael, on the other hand, was lying on his back, head resting against Evan’s leg as he covered his eyes with his arm, complaining of a headache. 

Soon enough, the bottle was passed around to Michael again. Calum prodded him in the knee to get him to sit up and continue the game. Groaning, Michael pushed himself up onto his elbows, blinking wearily at the bottle as if it had personally offended him. Reaching out, he spun the bottle, watching it carefully as it began to slow, finally coming to a stop pointing at Evan. Murphy let out a cheer, throwing her hands up in the air as Luke tried to shush her. 

Looking down at the ground, Evan tried to stop the blush creeping onto her cheeks. She could blame it on the alcohol, but nearly everyone knew the reason for the blush. Murphy’s quiet voice had Evan looking up, “Hey Evan, you don’t have to do it you know?”

“No, it’s alright, it’s the rules of the game,” Evan said, letting out a nervous laugh, avoiding eye contact with Michael. Murphy gave her a knowing smile as she looked at Evan, before breaking eye contact and going back to drinking her wine, talking quietly with Luke about something.

“So…” Michael’s voice came from Evan’s right, “We gonna do this?” His voice was slurred with all the alcohol he’d drank, a huge smile plastered on his face as he looked at Evan.  
Letting out another shy laugh, Evan glanced at Michael, “Uh, yeah I guess so.” Looking around at everyone, she noticed that they were all preoccupied with their own thing; Luke and Murphy were still talking quietly, Ashton was searching through his rucksack and Calum was reading the bottle of his beer, trying unsuccessfully to not pay attention to Evan and Michael.

Michael glanced away and looked at the others, turning back to Evan once he was satisfied that they were all busy. He pushed himself up into a sitting position, leaning towards Evan, still smiling. When they were inches apart he stopped, glancing up at Evan through his eyelashes, “Are you sure you’re okay with this?” he said, nervously chewing on his lip.

Nodding her head, she smiled back at him, “Totally..” she trailed off. Leaning forward, she closed the last few inches between them, gently pressing her lips to his. She felt him smile into the kiss and rest his hand against her cheek before she pulled away, looking down at her hands, smiling nervously. 

Coughing awkwardly, Michael removed his hand from her cheek, rubbing his eyes and looking around at everyone else. Evan did the same, noticing everyone was still doing their own thing. Pushing herself to her feet, she swayed slightly, holding onto the bedpost to steady herself as she yawned loudly, “I’m shattered guys, I’m going to get some sleep, try not to be too loud.”

Looking up from talking to Luke, Murphy gave Evan a small smile, “Actually, we should probably all get some sleep, we don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow.” Holding onto Luke’s hand, she stood up and pulled him to his feet. 

As the rest of the group stood up and started getting themselves ready to sleep, Evan sat down on the bed, pulling her shoes off and slipping under the blankets. As she lay still, the dizziness from before made a return, making her clench her eyes shut and let out a quiet moan of pain. She heard a rustling from across the room and, cracking open an eye, she saw Murphy sitting down opposite. “Hey Evan, you alright?” Concern was evident in her voice as she studied Evan in the faint light.

“I’ll be fine Murph, I told you I shouldn’t drink though, this is what happens,” Evan laughed, closing her eyes again as the movement caused her head to spin even more. She turned over, facing away from the light as she tried to fall asleep. A few minutes later, she felt the bed dip as Michael lay down, covering his eyes with his arm. “Mikey? You alright?” she asked quietly without opening her eyes. 

She felt Michael turn over next to her, “Shouldn’t I be asking you that Ev? You don’t look so good.”

Opening her eyes, she squinted in the faint light, her headache increasing the longer her eyes were open. “Aside from this killer headache and feeling like my stomach is twisting inside out? Other than that I’m alright.”

Laughing gently, Michael gave her a sympathetic look, “Just try and get some sleep, you’ll probably feel better in the morning.”

Closing her eyes again, Evan murmured, “I hope so,” before she was finally pulled into unconsciousness.

_She looked around the desolate landscape, the greying buildings leering over the city streets, casting shadows over everything. She held her knife out in front of her, a flimsy blade, not much good against the infected but it was all she had. There was nobody with her, she hadn’t seen anybody else for weeks, had the infection claimed them all? Shaking her head, she tried to clear the negative thoughts from her head, knowing they wouldn’t do much good in the long run. She continued walking down the street, eyes scanning the shadows and side streets, looking for threats or any signs of life. A shuffling came from behind her, like feet being dragged across the floor. Spinning round, she caught sight of a flash of black hair before an ear piercing scream shattered the illusion._

Evan’s eyes shot open as the scream echoed through her head. Trying to calm her breathing she sat up, and looked around the room, checking to make sure everyone was still asleep. A loud rustling from beside her had her looking over at Michael, she watched him toss and turn in his sleep, face twisted and indecipherable phrases passing from his lips. He’s having a nightmare, Evan realised. She reached out, shaking his shoulder gently, whispering his name over and over, trying not to make too much noise that might wake the others up.

She was just about to wake Luke up for help when Michael suddenly jolted upright, breathing heavily. His eyes were dazed and unfocused as he looked around the room, finally coming to a stop on Evan. As he looked, he frowned in confusion, “Evan?” he began, tilting his head slightly, “What are you doing up? It’s the middle of the night.”

“I, uh... I had a bad dream.” Michael’s expression changed to one of concern, “I’m alright though, it looks like your dream was worse though, how are you holding up?”

Michael looked down at his hands and frowned, “I’m okay, it wasn’t too bad...” His voice cracked, giving him away. 

Evan reached out a hand and rested it on his shoulder, “You don’t need to hide it Mikey…” she trailed off, hoping he would open up about his nightmare.

“It was, uh, about Hayden and Alex…” he looked down at his hands, closing his eyes. “It’s my fault that they died.”

“What are you talking about Mikey?” Evan frowned in confusion, raising an eyebrow, “It was nobody’s fault, the camp got overrun.”

Shaking his head, Michael looked at Evan, unshed tears brimming in his eyes, “If i’d only stayed awake during my watch, maybe we could have prevented it.”

“You can’t blame yourself for that Mikey, we were all exhausted. I don’t blame you and I know the others certainly don’t.” She took hold of his hand, “I know Hayden and Alex wouldn’t want you to blame yourself either, trust me.”

Letting out a sigh, Michael closed his eyes again, “I know Ev, but I should have been more careful. Maybe then Hayden and Alex would still be here…” He pulled his hand away from Evan, “Maybe I shouldn’t be here, all I do is fuck up..” he trailed off, putting his head in his hands.

Evan pushed his shoulder, “Don’t talk like that Mikey.” She looked down at her own hands, “We need you,” she took a breath, “I need you.”

Sniffing, Michael lay back down on the bed, turning to face Evan in the darkness. “Can we just try and get some sleep? 

“Sure Mikey,” Evan said quietly, lying down on her side, pulling the blanket back over them. Beside her, Michael turned onto his back, resting an arm behind his head and closing his eyes. Reaching out her hand, Evan ran her fingers through the dyed black strands of his hair. She let out a soft laugh, “You should probably dye this some time, you have some major roots coming through.”

Smiling to himself, Michael shifted so he was lying more comfortably on his back, “Do we really have time to be dyeing hair though?”

“Hell yes we do,” Evan replied, “I’m sure the infected can wait for a couple of hours while we make you look kick ass again.”

Laughing quietly, Michael rolled onto his side, “Maybe we can dye your hair too, then we can look kick ass together, just like old times.”

“Of course we can Mikey,” Evan said, eyes shutting as sleep began to draw her back under, “Try and get some sleep now, we’re moving on in the morning remember.” She continued running her fingers through Michael’s hair, trying to relax herself as well as him. After a few minutes, she heard his breaths even out as he drifted off to sleep. Tangling her fingers in his hair, she settled further under the blanket, finally letting the pull of sleep claim her, nightmares forgotten and mind at ease.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, Evan awoke to the bright sunlight streaming in through the window. Blinking open her eyes, she stretched her legs under the blankets, letting out a yawn. Untangling her fingers from Michael's hair, she slid out from under the blanket and headed across to the bathroom, smiling at Calum who was just waking up.  
Leaning on the window ledge, Evan looked into the mirror, grimacing at the dark circles under her eyes. Running her fingers through her hair, she tried to untangle the strands, not wanting it to get any messier than it already was.   
A couple of minutes later, she heard somebody come into the bathroom. Turning round, Evan came face to face with Murphy, who was standing in the doorway yawning and rubbing her eyes. “How are you doing Murph?” Evan asked, putting her hands up in apology when Murphy visibly winced.  
“Jeez, try not to talk so loud would you? I’m alright, this hangover’s hit me like a brick wall though,” Murphy replied, going to stand in front of the mirror, “I look like a mess,” she groaned, uncapping the water bottle on the ledge and splashing some onto her face.   
Leaving her to it, Evan headed back into the main room, sitting down on the bed and pulling her rucksack up onto her knee, unzipping it and searching for something to eat. At the bottom of her bag, underneath a t-shirt, was a protein bar, probably out of date but at this point she was willing to eat anything.  
Unwrapping it, she held it up to her nose. Deeming it edible she took a large bite, savouring each mouthful, knowing that they wouldn’t have a supply of food for much longer.  
As she ate, everyone began to wake up around her, sitting up and yawning or rubbing their eyes. Beside her, Michael rolled over, groaning loudly at the bright sunlight streaming in through the window. “You alright Mikey?” Evan asked, as he turned over to face her.  
Holding a hand over his eyes, shielding them from the sunlight, Michael squinted up at Evan, “Yeah, I’m fine,” he said, looking away as he yawned.   
If Evan was anybody else she would have believed him, but she didn't. Michael knew that she didn't believe him and, as he looked back at her, he smiled slightly, hoping she wouldn't pursue it any further.   
She didn't, knowing it would just upset him more if she pushed the issue. Instead, she stood up, walking over to where Luke was standing by the window, peering out at the street below.  
“Hey Luke?” Evan started, smiling at him as he turned to face her, “What’s the plan for today?”  
Luke frowned slightly as he thought about it, glancing around at the rest of the room, “I think we're just going to stay put for now, Evan," Luke said, looking over to the door to the bathroom Murphy was currently in. Evan followed his gaze and nodded.   
"She's in a bad way, huh?" Evan laughed.   
"Yeah, maybe we shouldn't have let her drink so much," Luke laughed too, running a hand through his hair, concern evident on his face.   
Smiling up at Luke, Evan patted his arm, “Don’t worry, Murph’s a real trooper. She’ll bounce back soon enough, just give her a couple of hours.”   
Luke laughed again, the concern slowing ebbing off of his face. “I’m gonna go see how she is.” He turned and began to walk away towards the bathroom. Remembering something, he stopped halfway across the room, turning back to Evan, “I’m going to need you to help me scout the hotel soon, considering you seem to be the only one who’s not hungover.”  
Looking around at everyone else, Evan laughed, “Sure Luke, i’ll be ready to go in 10.”  
Turning around, Evan glanced out of the window, glad to see that the storm had passed and the sun was shining brightly through the clouds. Stretching her arms above her head, she rolled her shoulders, trying to get rid of the constant aches. After a couple of minutes, she stopped stretching, turning on her heel and heading across to the bed, pulling her rucksack up and resting it on the blanket. She took out her jacket, grimacing when all she got was a handful of wet fabric. “Are you fucking serious?” she grumbled to herself, pulling the rest of her clothes out of her rucksack, searching for something dry.  
At the disturbance, Michael turned over, glancing down at the wet clothes in Evan’s hands before giving her a small smile. “You can borrow my jacket if you want Ev. I’m not going to be going anywhere.”  
She gave him a grateful smile, hanging her wet clothes over the end of the bed in the hopes that they might dry before they had to depart. “Thanks Mikey, that would be great.”  
She heard a noise from behind her and, as she turned around, she saw Luke emerge from the bathroom with Murphy tucked under his arm, shielding her eyes from the bright light. Seeing her standing there watching them, Luke smiled at Evan, “You ready to go now?”  
Smiling back, Evan bounced on the balls of her feet, “As ready as i’ll ever be.”  
“Great,” Luke replied, “Just let me get this one back in bed then i’ll be ready.” Helping Murphy sit down on the bed, he pulled the blanket back, tucking it around her as she settled down on the pillows, blinking blearily up at Luke. Leaning over, Luke pressed a kiss against her forehead, murmuring “Don’t worry pumpkin, i’ll be back soon enough.” Straightening up, Luke glanced at Ashton and Calum, then at Michael, before looking back at Murphy, “I trust you can keep this lot in line, right?”  
Murphy let out small chuckle, pulling the blanket up around her chin, “Of course I can, what do you take me for?” She coughed slightly, looking over at Evan, “You keep him safe, alright? I don’t want to have to kick your ass.”  
Evan laughed loudly, giving Murphy a mock salute, “Yeah, I can do that,” she replied, bending down and picking up her knife and gun holster, strapping it around her waist and sliding the knife into its holder.  
Walking around to the other side of the bed, she picked up Michael’s denim jacket and put it on, rolling the sleeves up to her elbows and straightening the collar out. She began to head towards the door, calling back at Luke, “Let’s get going, we don’t want to spend all day doing this.”  
Easing open the door to the room, she stepped out, glancing both ways down the corridor checking for threats. From behind her, barely audible from her position out in the corridor, she heard Michael start to speak, “Luke?” Evan noticed his voice was laced with worry, “ Take care of her, please.”   
“Sure thing Mikey,” Luke’s voice came from right behind her as he too stepped out into the corridor, knife held in a defensive position. He looked down at Evan, giving her a small smile, “Ready to do this then?”  
Nodding eagerly, Evan began to make her way towards the stairwell with Luke in tow, knife out and at the ready. As she walked down the stairs, she turned her head to face Luke, “How are we doing this? Start at the bottom and work our way up or are we going to split up to make the job faster?”  
Contemplating the question, Luke chewed on his lip, “It’s probably better if we stay together, we don’t have the walkies so we have no way of communicating if anything goes wrong.”  
Nodding to herself, Evan turned back and concentrated on the stairs again, "Yeah, you're probably right."  
They headed down to the ground floor, pushing open the door to the foyer, checking the area before stepping out of the stairwell. Luke turned to face Evan, his eyes still glancing around the foyer occasionally. “We need to make sure that all the exits are secure and that nothing’s gotten in over night.”  
Evan nodded, “We should start in the kitchens, we made the main entrance pretty secure yesterday.”  
Clapping her on the shoulder, Luke began to walk towards the kitchen, “Good idea Evan.”  
Evan span her knife around in her hand as she followed after him, eyes scanning the corners of the foyer.   
As soon as Luke walked through the kitchen door, he stopped. Evan, who was still looking around at the surrounding room, walked straight into the back of him, steadying herself on his arm, as she peered around him.  
“Luke?” Evan started, “What the fuck are you doing?” She made to move around him, but was stopped by Luke holding his arm out, preventing her from moving any further.  
“Shut up a second will you Evan?” Luke muttered, bringing his knife out in front of him. He stepped forward, head tilted and listening.   
Now that it was silent, Evan could hear a rustling noise coming from the other end of the kitchen. She edged forward, drawing level with Luke as they crept towards the source of noise. As they got further into the kitchen, Evan saw something shifting in the shadows next to the refrigerator’s.   
As they neared the dark shape, Evan noticed that it was a walker, crouched over and searching through the rubbish on the floor. Straightening up Evan scraped the edge of her knife along one of the kitchen units, drawing the walker's attention.   
The infected stood up, locking its eyes on them as it began to stagger towards them, head making jerking movements with every step it took. Evan made to walk ahead of Luke to take it out, already holding her knife out in defense.  
She was a couple of metres away when she was suddenly dragged back by a hand grabbing her wrist. Evan let out a startled yelp as she reached out to steady herself on a cupboard, watching as Luke hurried over to the walker, kicking out its knees and driving his knife into its skull before stepping back as the body hit the floor at his feet.  
Straightening up, Evan sheathed her knife, “Why the fuck did you do that, huh?” Evan ground out, taking a step towards Luke, “I was capable of doing that myself.”  
Luke held his hands up in defense, “I know you were Evan,” he paused, “it’s just…”  
“Just what?” Evan asked, placing a hand on her hip, raising her eyebrows. Luke looked away, thinking for a moment.   
“Mikey asked me to look after you, so I am,” he muttered, turning away and crouching down, searching through the walker’s pockets, looking for anything of use.  
Evan frowned, “Luke, we both know fine well that I’m capable of taking down a single infected.” She paused, narrowing her eyes, “Mikey knows that as well.”   
“Yeah, I know that Evan...” He trailed off, shaking his head slightly, “Come on, let's just finish this search and get back upstairs,” Luke said, straightening up and turning towards the door.   
Rolling her eyes, Evan groaned loudly before trailing after Luke, tapping her knife on her leg as she walked. They headed back through to the foyer, searching the area before going to check the function rooms that lay at the back of the hotel. They were both silent as they headed down the unlit corridors, stopping at the intersections to listen for any threats, before continuing on.   
Arriving outside the doors to the function rooms, they took positions on either side of the doorway. Peering around the doorway, Evan scanned the room, taking note of the bar that ran down one side of the room, and the upturned tables that were scattered about. She glanced over at Luke, noticing that he was also scanning the room. She waved her hand to get his attention, before signalling for them to move into the room.  
Nodding his understanding, Luke slipped into the room. Evan watched for any sign of movement before following him as he walked towards the opposite end of the room. As they neared the other doorway, Luke held up his hand, halting their progress.  
He beckoned her closer before leaning down and whispering, “I can hear movement from the other room, be ready to move when I open the doors.”  
“Can you tell how many there are?” Evan asked, voice low, concern evident in her tone.   
Luke shook his head, a frown etched onto his face. “We’ll just have to be prepared for anything,” he paused, “If there’s too many of them we get the hell out and warn the others.”  
Evan nodded, a frown coming onto her face, “Let’s just try and be quiet, maybe whatever’s in there won’t spot us.”  
Luke gave her a grim smile, “Alright Evan, let’s do this.” He held his machete out in front of him as he stood next to the door, his hand ready on the handle. Evan stood back from the door, crouched down in order to be a smaller target.   
She nodded and Luke turned the handle, pushing open the door. The room beyond had no windows, and only one entrance, which didn’t explain the bright sunlight streaming into the room. As Evan stepped closer, she heard Luke mumble “Oh shit,” as he gazed into the room.   
Luke stumbled back, tripping over his feet and crashing into Evan. Righting herself, Evan squinted in the darkness trying to see what had startled Luke. The bright sunlight was explained as Evan stared at the far side of the room - a collapsed wall, several metres wide and no protection from the outside. In the shadows of the room, she could see several figures, crouched and feeding on something.   
She let out a gasp, taking a step back away from the open door. Behind her, Luke had righted himself and hurried past her, slamming the door to the room shut and pushing a nearby chair under the handle.   
Beyond the door, the shuffling sounds got louder. Luke span round to face her, panic clear on his face, “We go now, get the others and leave, it isn’t safe here anymore.”  
Sheathing her knife, Evan turned around and ran. She heard Luke following close behind as she ran out of the function room and through to the foyer, crashing through the door to the stairwell and not stopping till they reached their room on the third floor.  
Catching her breath she knocked loudly on the door, willing for somebody inside to open it. Soon enough they heard a shuffling from behind the door and it was opened to reveal Calum’s confused face. “Evan? Luke?” He began as they pushed past him into the room, closing the door and blocking it behind them, “What are you guys doing back so soon?”  
Still panting, Evan bent over, resting her hands on her knees, “Infected..” she managed to get out, “Downstairs…”  
Beside her Luke straightened up, having recovered his breath. “There’s a breach down in one of the function rooms, some infected were already inside.” He let out deep sigh, “We can’t risk staying here any…” His sentence was cut short by the sounds of retching from the bathroom. His face paled as he rushed over to the open bathroom door, muttering “Oh shit,” before disappearing inside.   
Giving Calum a questioning look, Evan headed over to see what the fuss was about. As she drew near, she heard the awful wet sound of vomit. Holding a hand over her mouth, she peered around the doorway, being met with the sight of Murphy bent over the toilet, with Ashton sitting next to her, rubbing her back and holding her hair out of the way.   
As she watched, Luke threw his gear onto the floor before nudging Ashton away, taking his place at Murphy’s side, murmuring reassurances in her ear. Standing up, Ashton came and stood beside Evan, leaning against the doorframe.   
Glancing up at Ashton, Evan game him a tight smile, “What happened? Is she alright?”  
Looking down at Murphy, Ashton let out a sigh, “She was fine until after you and Luke left. Then she started complaining of stomach pains and a headache then, as you can see,” he gestured to Murphy, “this happened.”  
“I hope she can get over this quickly, we need to move out as soon as possible.” Evan said, giving Murphy and Luke one last look before she turned around and headed back into the room, with Ashton on her heel.  
“What’s the problem Evan? Luke didn’t mention,” Ashton asked, stepping in front of her, folding his arms against his chest.  
Stopping and looking up at Ashton, Evan beckoned for Michael to come over too. She watched as Michael pushed himself off of the bed before walking over, coming to a stop next to Ashton, raising his eyebrows in confusion.  
“Ev? What is it? Are you alright?” Michael started, glancing between Evan and Ashton, a concerned look on his face.   
“Chill, Mikey, I’m fine.” Evan coughed, clearing her throat, “But there’s a breach downstairs in the function rooms and we need to get out of here as soon as possible.”  
Michael’s face paled as he took in what Evan was saying, “Can we not just,” he paused, “Stay up here till in all clears out then go down and repair the breach?”  
Evan shook her head, letting out a frustrated noise, “The breach takes up the majority of a wall, we don’t stand a chance of patching that shit up.” She looked at Ashton, “I really hope that ankle of yours is alright because we’re going to be doing a fuck load of running.”  
Ashton gave her a grim smile, “I’ll be fine Evan, don’t worry about me.”  
“Alright, good.” Evan headed over to the beds, “Get your gear packed up, I don’t know how quickly we’ll need to leave.” Pulling her bag up onto the bed, she began to put all her stuff back into it, grimacing when she realised her jacket was still wet. Groaning loudly, she bunched it up, putting it into her rucksack, hoping that it wouldn’t soak through her other clothes. Opposite her, Michael was sorting through the clothes he had strewn on the floor and putting what he didn’t need back in his rucksack.   
Soon enough, Evan was all packed up. Glancing at the bathroom door, she still heard the sounds of vomiting so she sat down on Luke and Murphy’s bed, pulling Murphy’s bag onto her lap and packing up her things for her.  
She was halfway through packing up Luke’s things when someone sat down next to her. Looking up, she came face to face with Murphy, pale-faced and shaky, leaning against Luke’s side and giving Evan a small smile.  
“You okay, Murph?” Evan asked, “You don’t look so good.”  
Murphy laughed, which soon turned into a cough as she clutched her stomach, “I’ll be alright, I’m thinking that alcohol was a bad idea though.”  
Evan giggled, “You think?” She patted Murphy’s bag on the bed next to her, “I packed your stuff for you, figured you wouldn’t be in any position to do it yourself.”  
“Th-Thanks,” Murphy stuttered, leaning against Luke even more, resting her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes.   
Luke ran a hand through her hair before saying, “What’s happening then, Evan?”  
“I was waiting for you to decide,” Evan mumbled, “But I think we need to move as soon as possible before the hotel gets overrun completely.”  
“That’s probably a good ide-” Luke began, before he was cut off by a loud bang from somewhere below them. They all started; becoming extremely quiet and still. Evan and Michael exchanged looks from across the room as they listened to what sounded like infected entering the hotel. As they listened, they heard the distinct scream of the infected and Calum cursed under his breath.   
“We need to go. Now.”   
The sound of Luke’s urgent whisper kicked Evan into sudden movement; she jumped up off the bed and threw Luke’s bag to him. He caught it and grasped Murphy’s hand, pulling her to her feet. Slipping the bag onto her back; he pulled her onto his back and turned back to Evan, holding out his hand for Murphy’s bag.   
“I’ve got it,” Evan said, moving quickly over to the bed she had shared with Michael the night before and slipping both Murphy’s and her bag onto her back. In a matter of seconds, Michael was beside her, picking up his bag. Evan glanced up at him and saw his panicked expression and reached over, squeezing his hand.   
“We’ve got this,” she said, and he nodded slightly.   
“Got this,” he repeated quietly, nodding again. Evan smiled at him and stood up, taking out her knife and turning to the other people in the room. They stood, ready, watching Evan. She took a deep breath before turning back to the door of the hotel room. Walking over and grasping the door handle, she opened the door and peered out into the corridor. It was empty. She stepped out, her knife held in front of her. She motioned behind her, urging the rest of the group out of the room. They proceeded cautiously down the hallway; Michael and Evan in front, with Luke carrying Murphy in the middle and Ashton and Calum walking backwards behind the rest of them.  
“Evan?” Michael whispered, and Evan turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow. He didn’t say anything more, but pushed her behind him slightly before carrying on walking. Evan dropped her arm to her side and looked back at Luke and Murphy, who avoided her eye contact.   
Ahead of her, Michael opened the door to the stairwell, peering around the door before disappearing inside. Evan hurried after him, not wanting him to get too far ahead. Inside the stairwell was dark, with not much light coming in through the small windows. Squinting in the darkness, Evan saw Michael leaning over the bannister in the middle, listening out for the signs of any infected in the stairwell. She tapped him on the shoulder and, once he turned around, gave him a questioning look. He shook his head slowly, holding a finger up to his lips before beginning the descent down to the foyer.  
They made it down to the foyer as quick as they could, keeping as quiet as possible. As they huddled around the doorway, they watched at Michael put his ear to the door, listening intently. Once he’d given the all clear, Michael entered the foyer first, pulling his mask up over his mouth. Evan had never understood why he covered the bottom part of his face, but it provided him with some form of comfort, or protection. Evan followed close behind him, taking out her gun and resting it on her knife arm. She sensed Luke behind her and she turned, motioning for him to stop.   
“Wait here for my signal,” she whispered. Luke nodded, and sunk back into the shadows of the stairwell, along with Ashton, whom Evan assumed wanted to protect them. Calum stepped closer to Evan and nudged her to follow Michael who was further ahead and was scanning the room, his eyes darting back and forth erratically.   
“Oh god,” he said, stopping dead in his tracks. Evan jumped, hearing the sudden increase in volume in Michael’s voice. Calum grasped Evan’s wrist and pulled her back. She stumbled over her feet as she attempted to see what had happened. She froze when she saw it; a group of infected making their way into the foyer from the corridors that led to the function rooms. As she stared in shock, a runner spotted them, turning to fix it’s bloodshot eyes on them, letting out an inhuman screech and attracting the attention of the rest of the infected.  
“Run, Evan, god dammit,” Calum said, pushing Evan back into the stairwell. He pulled back on Michael’s arm, who had also frozen to the spot. He turned; the panicked expression returning to his face. Sprinting back into the stairwell, Calum and Michael joined the rest of the group, who were grasping onto their weapons tightly. Murphy had lifted her head up from Luke’s neck and was staring at them, a dazed look on her face.  
“What-” she began, blinking at them in confusion.  
“Infected... In the foyer… No way through.” Michael’s words cut through Evan like a knife and she stepped back, breathing heavily and running a hand through her hair.   
“There has to be another way.” She said, panic evident in her voice, “We need to leave… Somehow”  
“We can’t stay here, we have to go back up,” Calum said, turning on his heel and beginning the ascent back upstairs. They all glanced at each other before they began to hurry back up the stairs. Evan hesitated, looking back to the stairwell door.   
“Evan!” Michael shouted, grasping her wrist and pulling her up the stairs behind him. She stumbled over her feet but regained her balance, sprinting away from the increasing screeches coming from the other side of the door. Michael was faster than her, however, and got further up the stairs. Evan began to panic, hearing the sound of infected behind her and seeing the group pulling away from her. As she tried to catch up, her foot caught on a step and she tripped, landing on her front against the stairs. As she lay there, dazed, she heard the screams of the infected as they banged against the door to the stairwell, trying to gain entry.  
“Go! I’ve got her,” Evan heard Michael shout as she attempted to push herself to her feet. Strong arms hooked underneath her arms, pulling her to her feet and holding onto her on the stairs. Looking up, she came face to face with Michael, looking down at her with a panicked expression clear on his face.  
“Come on, Ev,” Michael said, hurriedly. They began to run up the stairs again and soon arrived at the third floor. Michael kicked open the door that must’ve swung shut after the group had gotten through. They began to make their way down the corridor, spotting Calum disappearing into their hotel room.   
They were almost at the room when Michael suddenly pulled her to a stop, muttering “Shit,” under his breath. As they watched, more infected were making their way towards them from the other end of the corridor, emitting loud screams once they caught sight of their prey.  
“We aren’t going to make it there in time,” Evan said, looking up at him. He furrowed his brow, before pulling her back into the stairwell.  
“We can’t just leave them Mikey!” Evan shouted, pulling against him. Michael didn’t reply, pushing her towards the next flight of stairs, before walking back over to the door, pulling it open and stepping through. From her position on the stairs, Evan watched as Michael glanced down the corridor, before banging his knife against the wall, effectively gaining the attention of the infected, drawing them towards them and away from the hotel room where the rest of the group were. Once he was satisfied that the infecteds attention was on them, he hurried back into the stairwell, pushing the door shut and letting out a deep sigh.   
Glancing up at Evan, Michael gave her a grim smile, “Guess we better run then?”   
Evan barked out a quiet laugh at his comment, taking hold of his hand and turning, running up the stairs as the infected began to bang at the door.  
They made their way up to the fifth floor before they came to a sickening discovery. The stairwell to the upper floors was blocked off, packed full of objects that would take hours to shift out of the way. Evan turned to Michael in confusion, “I don’t understand, when did this get here?”  
Michael’s eyes widened in realisation, “Shit, it must have been Luke and Calum. They mentioned that they heard something from upstairs and that they thought it would be best if they stopped anything making its way down to our level.” He let out a frustrated groan, “Is there any way we can, I don’t know, get through it?”  
Evan gave the blockage a shove, trying to dislodge something, “There’s no time Mikey, it would take too long to move enough to get through.”  
“Are you sure?” Michael asked, desperation clear in his voice as he flitted around the blockage, trying to see any way that they could get through, but to no avail.   
“Mikey...Stop.” Evan started, her tone coloured with defeat, “We had to know our luck would run out sooner or later.”  
Michael shook his head, covering his face with his hand.   
“This can’t… this can’t happen,” he mumbled, moving his hand from over his face and looking at Evan. She had never seen someone so frightened before and moved towards him, pulling him into a hug. He returned it, holding her as tight as he could. Evan felt Michael begin to shake as the sound of infected got louder and louder as they made their way up the stairs. She pulled away and placed her hands on either side of his face.   
“It’s going to be okay, Mikey,” she said, attempting to calm him down. One stray tear fell down Evan’s face and Michael reached up; wiping it away with his thumb and placing a shaky hand on her cheek.   
“I’m so sorry,” he said, softly. Evan frowned, confused by his apology. He smiled and ran his other hand through her hair, before letting it rest on her neck.   
“Even through all this shit storm… you’re still so beautiful,” he said. Evan froze, looking up at Michael through the hair that had fallen over her face. The infected continued to get closer; their growls and screeches echoing off the walls of the stairwell, but Michael was too busy staring at Evan to pay much attention to it.   
“Mikey… the-” Evan began to say, attempting to look behind to see the infected, but Michael kept her face in the same place.   
“Evan…” Michael said, but broke off, his voice breaking, “You’re the best thing to ever happen to me.” Before she could react, the infected moved into Michael’s field of vision and he pushed her quickly behind him, getting out his knife.  
Evan turned, pulling her own knife out in the process before going to stand next to Michael at the top of the stairs. He glanced at her with a mixture of shock and confusion, before turning back to the oncoming horde. “How are we going to do this thing then?” Evan asked, locking her eyes on the infected.  
“We take down as many as we can then try and get down to the hotel room.” Michael replied. He tightened his grip on his knife, before taking a step towards the oncoming infected, “You ready?”  
Nodding her head, Evan let out a deep breath. “We can do this,” she said, trying to reassure herself. She watched as Michael stepped forward, driving his knife into the skull of the first infected to pass over the top of the stairs. As he stepped back, she moved past him, taking out the next infected to come their way. As the screams got quieter and the body count increased, Evan took a step back, catching her breath.   
A sudden screech from right in front of her had her stumbling backwards, tripping over one of the bodies on the floor as an infected launched itself at her knees. Hitting the ground hard, her breath was knocked out of her as she struggled with the infected trying to snap at her neck.   
Her arms started to shake with the force of holding the infected off of her and, as she began to lose hope that this was how it would end, the infected was ripped off of her, thrown onto the floor next to her head. As she sat up, trying to regain her breath, she heard the distinct sound of blood splattering on the floor. Turning her head, she stared in shock as Michael repeatedly hacked at the infecteds face with his knife, stabbing and slashing, not showing any signs of stopping.   
Evan scrambled backwards, only stopping when her back hit against the blockade. She watched on in horror as Michael brought his knife down one final time, and the sounds of cracking skull filled the stairwell as pieces of brain matter and blood splattered the area around him. He took a deep breath, leaning back on his knees as he surveyed the damage he’d made before wiping his arm across his forehead, getting rid of the traces of blood.   
Sheathing his knife, he stood up, smiling at Evan as he walked over to her and held out his hand for her to take. She sat there, paralysed against the blockade as she stared up at him with wide eyes.  
As she stared, realisation passed over Michael’s face and he glanced back at the mess he’d made, as a look of horror replaced his smile.”Shit… Evan…” he trailed off, crouching down and reaching out a hand cautiously towards her. “I’m sorry,” he paused for a moment, choosing his next words carefully, “I didn’t… I didn’t mean to scare you.”  
Evan brushed his hand aside as she pushed herself to her feet, avoiding his eyes. “Let’s just get down to the others,” she said quietly, as she headed towards the stairs.  
Stepping over the bodies of the infected, she kept her eyes trained on the wall ahead, not wanting to see the mess that they’d made. As she maneuvered her way down the stairs she listened carefully for the sound of any more infected who may have been nearby. Behind her, Michael was silent, not wanting to frighten her any more than he already had.  
They made it down to the third floor without encountering any more infected. As they opened the door to the corridor, they heard a faint scratching noise coming from further down the corridor. Peering around the corner of the door, Evan noticed a walker clawing at the hotel door that the rest of the group were in. Silently drawing her knife, she began to creep down the corridor, staying out of the walkers line of sight until she was directly behind it. Grabbing it by the shoulder, she slammed it against the door before driving her knife through its brain, releasing it once she was satisfied it was dead. Pulling the corpse out of the way of the door, she knocked twice while she waited for Michael to catch up with her.   
A few seconds later, the door opened a crack, revealing half of Ashton’s face, “Oh thank god you guys are okay,” he breathed as he opened the door wider, letting them inside. Evan glanced around the room, noting Calum sitting on one of the couches with his head in his hands, and Luke and Murphy sitting on the bed, talking quietly.   
Calum looked up as they entered, a look of relief passing over his face as he stood up and wrapped them both into a tight hug. “We thought we’d lost you guys - what the fuck happened?” he asked, stepping back and surveying them both.   
“We went upstairs, got blocked off from the upper levels,” Evan paused a moment, “The infected caught up and we had to fight our way through and now we’re here.”   
Luke let out a shocked gasp from the bed, “Shit, I’m glad you guys made it back alright.” He glanced down at Murphy who, Evan noticed, was looking slightly better than before. “We need to move now before the stairwell can get blocked again, we aren’t going to get this lucky twice.”  
They nodded their approval, casting worried glances at each other as they collected their things, preparing to leave for the second time.  
As they headed out into the corridor, Ashton let out a sigh of relief, “At least it’s clear now, where did all the infected go though?” He shuddered, “There were so many of them, we barely made it into the room.”  
From behind Evan, Michael spoke up, voice quiet and uncertain, “We drew them away when we headed upstairs.”  
Ashton turned around, glancing first at Michael and then at Evan with a surprised look, “Really? Thanks guys, you didn’t have to risk yourselves like that for us though.”  
Evan shook her head, smiling at Ashton, “We did what we had to do.” She glanced at the closed door to the stairwell, “Let’s just hope the stairwell is still clear.”  
Ahead of them, Calum had reached the door, standing with his ear pressed to it, listening for infected. Straightening up, he beckoned for the rest of the group to follow him as he pulled open the door, disappearing inside.   
As the rest of the group piled into the stairwell behind Calum and closed the door, Evan coughed quietly, "Um..." she paused a moment, "Can we get out here quickly? I don't feel so good."   
Luke glanced at her, a concerned look on his face, "Sure Evan, no problem."  
As they headed down to the lobby, Evan noticed that Michael was avoiding eye contact with her, staring down at the floor as he walked. She let out a quiet sigh, hating the silence that they were all in, not wanting to risk any stray infected hearing them.   
Arriving at the door to the foyer, Calum eased open the door, peeking his head around it, scanning the foyer for infected. Turning back, he faced the rest of the group, “There's three infected over by the entrance to the kitchens, nothing we can't handle."   
Luke nodded at Calum, "Alright, you, Ash and Evan go and take them out, try and not draw too much attention to yourselves." The three of them nodded and crept into the foyer, heading towards the group of infected.   
Taking out her knife, Evan signalled to Ashton and Calum which infected they were to take out. Nodding their understanding, they both moved behind the infected. Crouching slightly, Evan crept up behind the infected, grabbing its shoulder and driving her blade into its head. She stepped back as the body dropped to the floor, watching as Ashton and Calum took down the other two infected in a similar fashion. Turning on her heel, she headed back to the stairwell to inform the rest of the group that it was safe to proceed.   
As they stepped out of the stairwell, Luke motioned for everyone to follow him as he began to head across the foyer, sticking to the shadows.   
The main entrance was still blocked with the shelving unit so Luke signalled for Calum and Ashton to shift it out the way. As they waited, Evan scanned the foyer, looking for any signs of infected. Next to her, Michael stood quietly, fiddling with the holster of his knife, pulling at a stray thread. As the grating sound of the shelving unit moving across the floor echoed around the foyer, Evan heard the muffled scream of the infected, coming from the direction of the function rooms.   
Calum's panicked voice came from next to the door, "Alright, let's get out of here."   
Beside her, Luke pulled out his knife, turning to Ashton, "Get Murphy out of here." He let go of her hand, giving her a gentle push towards Ashton.   
As Ashton took hold of her arm and began to help her through the doorway, the first of the infected appeared at the entrance of the function rooms, screeching and snapping their jaws as they searched for the source of the noise.   
"Hurry up Ashton, we need to leave. Now." Luke muttered under his breath as he locked his eyes on the approaching infected.   
A loud screech signalled that they had been spotted by the infected and, as they began to shambles towards them, the shrieks increased as more of them noticed the group.   
Calum was next to squeeze through the gap, pushing himself through and holding his knife out next to him. Luke beckoned for Evan to go next and, as she headed towards the door, a runner broke free of the pack and sprinted at her, blood dripping from its clawed hands as it reached out towards her. Flattening herself against the door in shock, she could only watch as the infected gained on her. Before it could reach her, Luke stepped in front of her, slamming it into the shelving unit and slicing its head off with his machete.  
He turned to her, breathing heavily and blood splattered on his face, "Hurry Evan," he whispered, concern clear on his face. Nodding violently, Evan slipped through the gap, tripping on something and stumbling out into the bright sunlight. Once she'd righted herself she turned back to the doorway, pressing her face against the glass trying to peer through the grime to see how Luke and Michael were holding up.  
As she watched, Michael pushed Luke towards the door, turning back around and taking out another infected as it ran at him. A few seconds later, Luke emerged out into the sunlight.   
As Evan continued to stare through the glass, Michael made no move to follow Luke through the door, choosing to face the horde of infected head on, knife held loosely in his hand.   
Pushing past Luke, she leant back through the doorway, "Michael, get the fuck out of there," she yelled at him. Shaking his head slightly, he glanced over at the door with a confused look on his face, before looking back at the oncoming infected. Grimacing, he turned away from them, pushing himself through the doorway and out into the afternoon sunlight.   
Once he emerged, Ashton leaned past him and slammed the door to the hotel closed, preventing any infected from following them. Michael was about to lean over to catch his breath when Evan grabbed his shoulder, slamming him against the wall of the hotel, glaring up at him. "Why do you always have to act the hero, huh?" She grit her teeth, "You're only going to get yourself killed."   
She gave him a final shove in the shoulder before backing off, stepping away from everyone and avoiding their eye contact.   
Coughing awkwardly, Luke glanced at Evan before speaking up, "Let's get moving, we have to find somewhere to stay before nightfall."


End file.
